


The Fox and the Firefly

by Shy_Dragon9991



Category: Naruto, One Piece
Genre: Canon Divergence, Canon meets AU, Hugs, Implied NamiVivi, Kisses, M/M, Nosy Nami, Nothing Further/No Groping, PDA, Portal shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-17 01:32:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11841189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shy_Dragon9991/pseuds/Shy_Dragon9991
Summary: Why was it that something came up every time he gets settled with something or another? Whether it be with himself and his own emotions or relationships with the people around him, Naruto always seems to get blindsided by something else. This time it's a devil fruit user, and, on the bright side, his partner is brought right along with him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rbook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rbook/gifts).



> Not part of the main story, but more of an experiment in characterization because, sometimes, what we think how a character will react isn't how they actually do, as well as practice in writing characters other than Naruto and the ASL Bros. Everyone has their own idea of who a character is and what their personality is like, and, in this fic, I'll be trying for as In Character as possible for the Canon characters. Now, seeing as First Promising hasn't been published yet, this is more of a taste of the end result of Naruto and Ace from that fic. Both FP!Ace and FP!Naruto are 20 and have married after Marineford, which ended in victory for the Whitebeards with both Ace and Whitebeard surviving the war.

"I told you I had problems with time and space things..."

"Though, I gotta say I'm thankful it was just a devil fruit user and not something to do with dimensional travel this time." Naruto groaned before attempting to spit out a wad of sand.

Ace growled, pushing himself up and off of his lover so the other man could sit up, "I'm going to roast that asshole like a fucking celebratory turkey when we find him!"

Naruto laughed, "We need him to get back to the Moby first, but then you can go right ahead! I won't stop you!"

Ace smiled, standing up and reaching out his hand, "Are you alright? I landed on you pretty heavily and I know I'm not the lighest of people."

The blond grinned, taking the offered limb, "I'm fine, just a bit sore from the landing. Besides, I've held you up before, haven't I?"

The freckled man tilted his head in confusion before the realization of what his partner was alluding to hit him, a light hue of red gracing his cheeks.

"Really? Can you not?" Ace face-palmed in embarrassment as the other man brushed himself off, shaking the sand out of his clothes.

"What can I say? You look good with flushed cheeks," Naruto shrugged, not a hint of mocking in his voice.

"Well... I don't think so," Ace crossed his arms, looking away from the other man.

"Really? You should! It makes your freckles more noticeable..." the blond gave a wide grin, "Seeing them makes me want to kiss each and every one."

Dark-haired man groaned, his cheeks heating up further as he covered his face with his hands, "No, not right now, we still have to find the time warping bastard."

"Aw, come on, Firefly! Just a few couldn't hurt, could they?" Naruto took the other's hands in his own, gently removing them from his face with a happy smile replacing the previous grin, "Besides, you socked him real good with your last attack, so he's bound to be out of it for a while."

Ace looked away from the blond, his resistance waning, "All the more reason to find him sooner rather than later..."

Naruto was giving him the puppy eyes now, intertwining their fingers, "Please...?"

"Fine...Just a few though!" Ace relented with a huff, letting the other slip his hands out of his own to place them on his cheeks.

"Yes!" Cupping Ace's jaw in his hands, Naruto left soft pecks across the freckles he sdored so much.

A small smile graced the devil fruit user's face when a chaste kiss warmed his lips. Not wanting the ninja to stop so soon, Ace wrapped his arms around the other man and returned the gesture with a bit more fervor. Naruto's warm hands, rough-skinned and gently firm, held his waist while the thumbs caressed the jut of his hips. Deep chuckles vibrated against the taller man's lips before the blond pulled away.

Before either man could say anything, a sudden shout broke the comfortable silence. They looked at each other once before pulling away and walking in the direction of the noise.

"That sounded like Luffy..." Ace frowned, picking up his pace and starting to jog.

Matching his speed, Naruto said, "Your younger brother?"

"I saw the shiny-dealy over here! Come on, hurry!"

Voices of various protests echoed after though they did come closer. Not even seconds later, the smiling face of Monkey D. Luffy popped up around the remains of the stone buildings they had been about to pass by. Ace and Luffy nearly ran into each other in their hurry to meet. Luffy looked up at Ace in surprise before pointing at him comically.

"Ace! How did you get here so quickly!" He yelled before turning back to presumably look back at his travel companions.

The teen's eye's widened when he saw that his brother was in two places at once, both in front of him and walking towards him with his crew. Luffy's jaw dropped as he went back and forth looking at them.

"Luffy? What's wrong?" a female voice asked, soon revealed to be the Strawhat navigator. 

When she turned to see what he was gaping at, she too was left in shock at the sight of a second Ace. It was then that the rest of the group caught up to them and finally figured out why they were so shocked. They were so shocked that they didn't see the blond shinobi standing beside him.

Ace raised a hand in greeting, the other rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Er... Hello!"

"Well, now we know when and where we are, Firefly..." Naruto snickered, finding the faces of the others absolutely priceless, "See? Princess Nefertari Vivi! The last time we saw her was when I first met your brother."

The blond's words snatched the attention of most of the group, making them look at him. Luffy, however, paid more to his brother's look-alike than him. The counterpart to Naruto's partner was staring at his doppelganger as well, though he was no doubt still listening to the conversation.

"You... know me?" the princess spoke up, looking a bit confused, "I don't believe I know you, though?"

Naruto smiled at her, "You wouldn't if there is no me with your Ace, so don't worry. Ace here and I got into a bit of a mishap with another devil fruit user and were pulled along for a ride to a different timeline... at least that's what I think it was?"

"No, your right... He said he hadn't learned how to hop dimensions yet," Ace ran a hand through his hair, feeling uncomfortable with all the attention.

"How do we know you're the real deal though? We ran into someone who can switch faces... so we can't really trust you right off the bat..." Sanji asked, his tone level and unassuming as he lit a cigarette, merely stating fact.

"Would basic information work?" Naruto asked, tilting his head.

Zoro, the moss-haired swordsman, shrugged, "Depends on what it is."

Naruto looked at his husband, "It's your call, I know you don't like sharing information about yourself..."

Ace startled at being put on the spot so suddenly, "Huh? Err, let's see... Ah, both Luffy and I were raised on Dawn Island in East Blue."

The Strawhat crew looked at their captain for confirmation, but found none as he still fawned over the fact there were two versions of his brother. They then looked to their Ace, who simply nodded at the words.

"And what about you? Who are you?" Usopp, who Naruto recalled was the Strawhat sniper, questioned, a sceptical look still plastered on his face.

A giant grin found it's way onto Naruto's face as Ace looked away from everyone, red dusting his cheeks when the blond wrapped strong arms around his waist, "My name is Naruto! I'm this hothead's husband!"

Wasn't that a surprise. Even Luffy and his brother were looking at him now, though the former was confused while the latter was absolutely awestruck with disbelief. Some unexpected reactions were those of Nami and Vivi. They both were in giggles.

Naruto rested his chin on one of his husband's tan shoulders, pressing a soft kiss onto the other's neck, "Is there something wrong?"

Vivi quieted immediately as a smirk grew on Nami's face before the blue-haired teen apologized with a smile, "Oh, no, no, no! I'm sorry! You two are just really cute together!"

The red on Ace's face darkened as he refused to look at any of them while Naruto's grin became a warm smile, "Thank you! It's all Ace in my opinion though..."

"Fox..." the raven-haired man in the blond's arms twisted around and kissed his cheeks. "As interesting as this whole meeting is, both of us have important things to do. They probably have to be somewhere and we need to find the tool who dropped us here, remember?"

"Ah, you're right, you're right." the blond grinned, holding the other a bit tighter and giving him a kiss on the forehead in return.

"Um, excuse me, but how do you know we need to go somewhere?" Chopper, who no longer felt so hot in the shade, asked softly from behind one of Zoro's legs.

"We already went on our own journey through Alabasta, what?" Naruto said, pulling away from his Firefly just enough so they could look at each other, "How long ago? Around half a year?

Ace nodded, giving a short and flat-sounding laugh before looking away from him with a frown, "We separated after that though..."

"Firefly... Ace, there was no way that you could have possibly known what would happen..." Naruto frowned at the tone of his voice, not liking the topic.

"But if I-!" Ace started, being interrupted by the blond.

"He had his crew with him, Ace. You said it yourself, you struggled against him. If you had won, you would have still been exhausted and unable to fight the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates properly. I'm the one who should have caught up to you sooner...," Naruto shook his head, pulling away and feeling like he hadn't done enough, "Maybe then Marineford wouldn't have happened..."

Ace, angry at being interrupted and hating the way Naruto kept blaming himself for things that weren't his fault, gave the collar of his lover's dark grey jacket a yank to bring him closer again, "Don't interrupt me! I know that I should have waited... I... That bastard mentioned turning Luffy in and I lost my head, okay? None of that was anyone's fault other than my own. I hadn't jumped in ready for a fight I would have never been caught and scheduled for execution."

They were wrapped up in each other now, not caring that the others were watching or that they should be searching for their ticket home. The larger group could only wait awkwardly with bated breath. For the Ace watching the other, it was both confusing and informative because, while he didn't understand how his counterpart came to be in a relationship, much marriage with someone, he was discovering just what could happen to him should he pursue the same route his look-alike took. For Luffy, however, knowing that his brother would most likely be put up for execution if he goes after his objective was not a pleasant feeling. What made it even worse was the fact his older brother had taken the fall meant for him, something that left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Naruto looked at his Ace, a sigh brushing past his lips before he smiled and brought the other in for another embrace as the collar of his jacket was released, "Guess we both have a habit of being impulsive, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose..." the taller one of the couple fiddled with the blond's collar a bit before unzipping the article of clothing entirely.

The jacket had to be getting stuffy in all the heat between the sun and the powers of Ace's flame flame fruit... really, Ace just wanted to look at his abs. Could anyone really judge him if he wanted to look though? His husband was good looking... even more so whenever he decided to forgo all the layers of clothing. The action always relieved tension between them and prevented arguments from going any further than necessary too, not to mention the choked gasps behind them that were music to his ears.

Naruto chuckled, "Thanks, things were getting pretty... heated..."

"Oh? Because of the sun or me, Fox?" The dark-haired young man smirked, running his hands through the fluffy blond hair he loved so much.

"Always you, Firefly, always you," the ninja laughed, enjoying the sensation of the slender fingers running across his scalp before he let his lover go.

When the tension dispersed between the couple, the rest let out a collective sigh of relief. It was already awkward enough for most when they were all lovey-dovey, but to watch them fight was worse.

"Anyway, you're heading to the Yuba Oasis, right? To contact someone there?" Naruto commented, the married couple turning back to the Strawhats and their company.

"Yes, we’re going to see the leader of the rebellion. Their Headquarters are stationed there," Vivi answered with a nod.

Naruto looked at his husband, raising an eyebrow, "Go with or no? I think it'd be better than just combing the entire desert by ourselves..."

"More people are likely to find him than us alone." Ace shrugged, "Besides, it'd give us an opportunity to figure out some differences between our timeline and theirs."

"Yeah! Like how you two got married!" Luffy shouted excitedly, having gotten bored with the silence and awkwardness.

Naruto grinned widely, taking his husband's left hand in his right, "That's a long story! And my favorite too!"

Ace braught their joined hands up, drawing attention to the precious ring on his ring finger as he smiled, "You accidentally wooing me is your favite story to tell?"

Sanji raised a curly eyebrow, "How do you accidentally woo someone?"

Ace looked at the ninja as Naruto rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, "That's a good question, one only he can answer."

"Heh! Like I said, it's a long story! We better get walking or you won't make it to Yuba by nightfall! I can talk while we walk!"

The story went on throughout the day as they walked, the sky slowly bleeding from blue into bright oranges, reds, and yellows. The blond ninja kept everyone's attention, orating while gesturing with his hands as he guided them through the journey that led to the union of him and Ace. The lows bringing forth feelings of despair and suspense while the highs inspired great excitement and happiness, few interruptions coming into play. Before they knew it, the day had passed them by and graced them with a gorgeous desert sunset along with the sight of Yuba just over a stone's throw away.

"So, what you're telling me is that you promised to marry me without having any idea as to what that entailed?"

"I wouldn't say that, I knew what marriage was, I just didn't know what kind of relationship it was for at the time..." Naruto pouted, crossing his arms, "You gotta remember that my teacher was a pervert, not a romantic. It's not my fault he only told me about the physical side of things..."

"I was just teasing, no need to pout," Ace chuckled, pecking one the ninja's tan whiskered cheeks. 

While the couple continued to tease each other back and forth, the larger group was sorting through their thoughts. Two brothers in particular were having a rough time coming to terms with the event near the end of the blond's tale. Marineford. The main headquarters of the marines. It was where Ace's counterpart had been taken to be executed. Ace didn't want to think it would happen, that he would lose to Blackbeard and be traded into the marines hands for the title of Shichibukai. However, he couldn't deny that the possibility was still there, and he'd be an idiot to think otherwise. He didn't have any lover that would save his ass if he failed. It'd be just as the blond had said, even if he defeated Teach, the rest of his crew would be lying in wait to strike him down. As much as he hated the idea, he was going to need back-up. He'd be damned if he got Luffy involved in his business though. The aforementioned younger brother had other plans that contradicted Ace's. He was going to help his brother whether the other wanted him to or not. The idea that he might lose his brother was too real to him and he refused to sit back and let what the other version of his brother went through happen to the only brother he had left. He wouldn't back down until the other accepted his help or that of the old man he mentioned when they reunited in Nanohana.

"I just have one question..." Nami spoke up, catching the attentions of the married men as well as those of her crewmates.

"Yeah? Go ahead..." the two looked at one another before turning back to the redhead.

The young woman scratched at one of her cheeks awkwardly before seemingly steeling herself, "Between the two of you, who tops?"

Everyone turned their attention to the couple. Ace, recalling the consummation of his marriage to his husband, felt his face alight with embarrassment as everyone turned their eyes on him. The attention was making him extremely uncomfortable. Naruto frowned, feeling Ace's hand tighten around his own.

"That's none of your business!" Ace growled, his face redder than a sunburn.

Rubbing the back of Ace's hand with his thumb, Naruto gave her an unimpressed look before huffing, "I don't know, you tell me... who tops between you and Vivi?"

That caused Nami to stutter while the rest of the strawhats either laughed or gaped. Or got a nosebleed in Sanji's case. Naruto smiled at his Firefly's chuckles, glad to have made the other feel better.

"To answer you seriously though," Naruto slightly raised his voice to snatch everyone's attention again, ignoring the slight glare the Strawhat navigator was sending his way while Vivi fidgeted in embarrassment, "It all depends on how Ace is feeling... and how you define "topping.""

Before they could ask any further, Luffy raced forward to the lead them into the desert town, "Last one there is an icky vegetable!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit what's to come in the future...

"Why"

Naruto side-eyed the freckled man sitting beside him before looking back over to where his husband was wrestling with his counterpart's little brother. "Why what?"

Ace bit his lower lip, his fingernails digging into his palms. "Why me? Why would you marry me of all people?"

The blond stared at him in surprise, a bright smile and warm eyes taking over seconds later. "Isn't it obvious? It's because I love you!"

"But why? I'm not anything special..." The dark-haired male's face pulled into a grimace.

Naruto snorted, "You are to me! You gave me something to work towards! A new dream in place of the one I lost! You gave me happiness when I nearly drowned in despair!"

"You're my light," Naruto mumbled, continuing as he glanced into Ace's eyes, "The reason my world hasn't been swallowed by darkness. I lost everything, but you taught me how to live again. So thank you, thank you for being born, for being there for me and helping me understand things when I was still reeling from confusion. I didn't know I needed someone until everything got so dark, but you stepped up to plate and lit the way out of it. Thank you for existing."

The son of the Pirate King looked awestruck, opening and closing his mouth before his bottom lip trembled. He jerked away from the blond as he began sniffling. Otherworld husband or not, the other man was still unfamiliar to him and he'd be even more damned before he let a stranger see him cry. His shoulders shook as he repeated those words, "Thank you for existing," inside his head and he coughed to clear the sudden lump in his throat. Never had he ever imagined that he'd hear someone say anything like them. Two arms wrapped around him, startling him as they pulled him back around face-first into a warm chest. He pushed against it, but was soon squeezed too tightly to move his arms.

"I know about Roger" brushed against his left ear.

Ace froze in shock, a few tears leaking from his eyes. Feeling him stop resisting, Naruto loosened his hold. The dark-haired man looked up at him, little droplets falling down his freckled cheeks. The ninja brushed them away with his thumbs, pressing his forehead against the other's warmer one.

"We shared our secrets back in Loguetown. Roger was brought up after you drank yourself silly. I shared my less than stellar childhood with you the next morning when you could finally think coherently without puking your guts out. You didn't pity me and I never hated you. It was more the opposite since we became inseparable afterwards." Naruto murmured, his breath tickling Ace's ear and sending shivers down his spine.

"What we have was built on trust, trust to have each other's back when we need it and to keep each other's secrets, but it became so much more far quicker than I ever expected."

"Who... who confessed?"

Ace's own voice answered him while his counterpart sat down beside the blonde, done playing with Luffy after Sanji had announced that food was ready, "I did. Love him, but Fox is a bit dense..."

"Hey!" Naruto reached out to gave his husband's side a pinch. "I am not!"

Firefly giggled, leaning away from the action, "Yes, you are! It took me blatantly saying it to your face for you to understand that I love you!"

Naruto huffed and released Ace from his arms, letting him recompose himself and scoot away with embarrassment written across his face. He watch as the couple bickered and couldn't help but bite his lip as warmth spread throughout his chest and face. 

"Oi! Are you three going to come eat or not?" The trio startled at Sanji calling out to them.

Naruto looked between the other blond and his lover before he grinned teasingly at the freckled brunet. "Nah, I'd rather have dessert first."

There was a moment of silence before everyone realized what he said. Most of them anyway. Chopper and Luffy wore confused faces while Zoro choked on his food in laughter. Ussop turned a bit green as he looked awkwardly away from the couple, Nami all the while giggling along with a red-faced Vivi. Sanji's cigarette fell from his mouth in shock into the dancing flames he'd been working with, the blond's visible curly brow shooting up to his hairline. Their Ace scrambled away from the two, flushing further with knowledge of what the whiskered blond meant.

"Naruto!"

"What? Not even a couple kisses, Firefly? I'm hurt..."


End file.
